Contents

History

Background and development

In 1991, while working with the early childhood music department at Macquarie University, Phillip Wilcher met musician and former member of the Australian rock group The Cockroaches, Anthony Field, who was studying child development. According to Wilcher, Field asked him to join The Wiggles, which would become "Australia's foremost children's entertainment act", and to help them produce the album. The album was dedicated to the memory of Paul Field's infant daughter, Bernadette, who had died of SIDS in 1988. Wilcher financed and "contributed the most musically to the debut album", composing 75% of the music. Like a university assignment, they produced a folder of essays that explained the educational value of each song on the album. They needed a keyboardist "to bolster the rock-n-roll feel of the project", so Field asked his old band mate Fatt, for his assistance in what they thought would be a temporary project. Recording sessions were held at Wilcher's home, and the album cost approximately A$4,000 to produce. The group reworked a few Cockroaches tunes to better fit the genre of children's music; for example, according to Field, a Cockroaches song he wrote, "Mr. Wiggles Back in Town" became "Get Ready To Wiggle" and inspired the band's name because they thought that wiggling described the way children dance. There was also a piece by Phillip Wilcher, "Summer Dance", that appeared on the album, as "Archie's Theme".

Release Dates

Trivia

Phillip Wilcher mentioned that on a YouTube comment, The Wiggles thought one of the songs Vini Vini was renditioned in the public domain, but it was claimed by a French composer. The song was removed from this album and from the concert video Wiggledance! in 1998.

The music from Dorothy the Dinosaur was adapted from Another Saturday Night written by John Field, set to lyrics by Murray Cook, after he observed that children have a fascination for dinosaurs.

Get Ready to Wiggle was adapted from an unreleased song written for The Cockroaches, Everybody Wiggle!.

The music for Archie's Theme was adapted from Summer Dance which was written by Phillip Wilcher.

Phillip Wilcher wrote Mischief the Monkey and the spoken recordings Stars, The Man on the Moon and Desert Dreaming. Also, the traditional songs which are credited to The Wiggles are principally arranged by him.

Jeff Fatt is credited as playing the accordion on the album, but it is unclear which track use it.

Greg Page wrote in his autobiography that The Wiggles were moving away from the more traditional songs provided by Phillip Wilcher towards a more rock and roll sound that was solidified on the tracks that Phillip Wilcher did not perform. This is a possible reason for his dismissal.

Anthony Field asked Phillip Wilcher to contribute more original material, so, in response, Phillip wrote Mischief the Monkey in front of him in about five minutes.